さんちか

Santica

Useful Information

Location:	1 Chome-10-1 Sannomiyacho, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0021. (34.692573, 135.194851)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Underground City
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	Ar=19,109 m².
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Santica, 1 Chome-10-1 Sannomiyacho, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0021, Tel: +81-78-332-1570.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

01-OCT-1965	opened and nicknamed Santika Town.
1985	nickname shortened to Santica.

Description

さんちか (Santica), often also transliterated Sanchika or Santika, is an underground mall or underground city with a long history. Santica is the nickname for the 三宮地下街 (Sannomiya Underground Shopping Center), located in Sannomiya, hence the name, in the center of Chuo Ward in Kobe City. We normally give a location for any listed site, which normally is the entrance, or if this is impossible the meeting point. Here we had some difficulties, as this structure has some size and numerous entrances. We have chosen what we think is one of the main entrances. It's actually the crossing of two major roads, and there are numerous entrances leading down, which are well signposted, even in latin letters. And 1-10-1 Sannomiya-cho is also the address of the Kobe Kotsu Center Building which is owned by Kobe Chikagai Co., Ltd. who operate the mall.

The underground city has nine sections or main passages, which are named 1st Avenue to 10th Avenue, with 4th Avenue and 9th Avenue missing. Each of the eight sections has a main topic, for example, toys, clothing, fashion, home & life, sweets, noodles, and so on. The ninth section is the 味ののれん街 (Aji no noren machi, Restaurant Street). Entertainment spaces with weekly events are located on Third Avenue.

It seems the huge and clean mall, which is quite a difference to the small shops which were common before, and still exist above ground, was quite a novelty in Japan. It is said that about 600,000 people flocked to the underground mall on its first day in 1965. It has been a great success for more than 50 years. But it actually was not the first such structure in Japan, Tokyo's Yaesu and Osaka's Umeda were earlier.